Friday, May 04, 2007

Autism and visual perception

Two new studies being presented this week at the International Meeting for Autism Research this week give us a picture into how autistic youngsters develop a different view of the world than those without the disorder.

In one study, Mari Davies of UCLA and her colleagues used brain scanning technology to see what happens in the visual processing regions of autistics aged 8 to 17. They showed 16 of these people photographs of people looking directly at the camera or with an averted gaze. Unlike in healthy youngsters of the same age, a brain region called the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex – which is known to play a role in processing emotions – showed no greater activity in response to the photos showing a direct gaze.

In a second study Katarzyna Chawarska of the Yale University School of Medicine and her colleagues used an eye-tracking system to show that 2-year olds who appear to have autism spectrum disorders spend a considerable amount of time looking at the eyes of a person shown in a photograph. One of the hallmarks of autism, at least in older patients, is that an affected individual will not focus on the eyes of others. Chawarska says the results from her study give her hope interventions to assist these patients at a very young age can help.

I think it's obviously helpful that scientists have new insight into how autistic people might see the world differently. But a webcast by Amanda Baggs, who herself has autism, reminds us that its important to also emphasise how people with this disorder still experience the world similarly to you and me.

I've just finished reading a book called Born on a Blue Day, written by Daniel Tammett, a man with the rare combination of Asperger's and synaesthesia. I'd highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the subject.

The book's not the most incredibly well-written thing, but then, that's not really the point. While it's interesting reading specific accounts of how Daniel sees numbers for example (primes are easily identified by their 'pebbliness'), the whole's definitely greater than the sum of the parts.

You get a fascinating insight into how someone with this condition (although a very high-functioning version) sees the world, and what the similarities and differences are.

That webcast by Amanda Baggs doesn't seem like it carries a good message about autism. She talks about her "language", but it's not even really a language since it isn't (and can't be) used for communication. She then says that her mumbling and arm-waving "language" is as valid as a real language and that people without autism are somehow impaired. I don't know if downplaying the importance of teaching language to those suffering from autism is really a good thing to post in a science blog, although I suppose it does give some insight into the thoughts of someone with the disorder. Just wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong impression about the seriousness of autistic language deficiencies. This research is very intriguing though.

I didn't see the webcast (limited to dial up connection)but to say the way autistics communicate is not a real language is neural typicalism.

I have mild Asperger's Syndrome and one difficulty I have is that Neural Typicals think very linearly and if you move outside their "box" they get lost.

If they can't understand something, they assume it has no meaning.

The eye contact thing is an example of another misunderstanding. I have trained myself to look into eyes so NTs don't see me as wierd, but the problem isn't that I don't get any information from eyes, it is getting too much. To stay in the box NTs function in, it is easier to avoid eye contact.

When working with a group of Special Needs children teaching them how to make animated movies, I found that autistic children who would not talk directly to me, would quite happilly talk to the camera and explain their work.I think that this is soemthing that might be checked by experts.www.makemovies.co.uk

I knew the 2moons dil so I always try my best to earn them more and more to make myself strong. I have never played the game before, at the beginning I did not know what is so I went to kill the monsters with the 2moons gold that I earned with myself in the game. I will duty bound to a friend to help brush the 2moon dil together with my friends. I spend a good relationship is then fly to tears. If my levels are very high, I can go to buy 2moons dil more and more and I will not depend on my friends to help me to earn them. I get some cheap 2moons gold as the gifts to encourage me.